What Ripples are to Waves
by AyumiUK
Summary: Everyone's lives are threads in the fabric of history, and each person's thread is a different color. Fortunately, the Norns don't believe in color coordination. A life, from many points of view. (Self-Insert, Outsider PoV, no romance)
1. Rouge, Garp

This is an Outsider PoV taken to extremes.

A different take on (I'll condemn) the world for your sake. Writing this has actually helped with the main fic.

 **Can be read as a stand-alone fic.**

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 **1\. Rouge**

Portgas D. Ann was born at ten to midnight on New Year's Eve.

Ann stared intently at her mother's writhing form with focus no baby should possess. Despite the uncanny, too old eyes, Rouge loved her unconditionally… for the grand total of ten hours.

The first few hours after her birth were filled with shouts of agony, but as time went by, they slowly dwindled down to small whimpers and died altogether.

Finally holding Ace, Rouge looked pleadingly at her eldest.

What exactly those eyes wished to convey would remain a mystery forever, as she gave her last breath right after whispering their names.

In another world, Portgas D. Ann didn't survive the long pregnancy. In this one, a young woman from Earth opened her eyes after closing them for what she assumed was the last time.

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 **2\. Garp**

Garp was at a loss. He'd intended to spirit Rouge away from Baterilla as soon as the hunt for Roger's 'supposed' offspring died down. She'd then raise her children in a quiet island, away from harm.

Then, she went and died and sank all his plans.

And left not one, but two orphaned children for him to care for. Two.

He'd do his best, sure, but his best was… a little severely lacking. Garp was no father material, his own son could attest to that. Had it not been for his wife—bless her soul—Dragon would never have grown up to be… anything at all. Because babies couldn't swim in crocodile-infested water, apparently.

He thought and thought, and finally came to the conclusion those kids needed a woman in their lives. Not so much for the fact he believed females were more suitable in general (his own parents came to mind), but because the men he did trust were even worse than he was.

The lovely Tsuru came to his mind. But raising two kids in Marine headquarters was a very bad idea, especially those kids.

The problem? The only person who wasn't associated with the World Government and owed him enough to do it was a bandit.

Still, that was the best he could do, and he'd be sure to visit his adopted grandchildren as often as he could, to train them and show them the amazingness that being Marines was. They even had a very good dental insurance! How else would he have such a charming smile?

(In truth, the Marine didn't have any kind of medical insurance whatsoever. It just so happened that no sane dentist—or doctor—would ever deny him treatment. Sengoku felt sorry for those people and refunded them… partially. So, really, this was more of a Garp Insurance thing.)

If they grew up to be outstanding defenders of Justice, no one could ever say they were evil simply for being the children of the Pirate King. He knew well how different children were from parents. Just look at him! A role model of Marine ideals, and yet…

No, he shouldn't think like that. This time, he'd do better.

He had to, for his and their sake.

In another world, Garp failed. In this one, he succeeded momentarily.


	2. Dadan, Ruby

This isn't the last you've seen of Dadan, or Ruby, for that matter.

Also, I'll probably write a chapter for Magra later on. And Dogra, too.

29/12 edit: I uploaded the wrong version. It's fixed, now. orz

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 **3\. Dadan**

The twins were so far past odd that they went back to normal and odd again.

They only spoke to each other, in a gibberish speech that surely couldn't mean anything. Yet, she recognized a few recurrent words, and it was too complex. As if they spoke in a completely different language. But that was impossible. Right…?

For all their intelligence, they struggled with Common. Granted, (most of) her boys didn't speak to babies, and she vaguely remembered the elder in her old village saying something about babies learning from adults.

He was probably right. People don't know things until they are taught or experience them.

Except they did. That was creepy as hell.

Dadan cursed Garp again.

In another world, Dadan cursed Garp. In this one… she cursed him twice more.

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 **4\. Ruby**

 _When Ruby was caught by a marine officer, she thought she was done for._

Rouge refused to let her go to Ohara alone. According to her, Ruby was too young.

Their legendary rows were the island's entertainment.

Roger only laughed. Said she had a pirate's heart. Offered to take her to see the world, and she almost agreed... but her poor ears would most likely fall off if she disobeyed her sister. They compromised, and she went on her merry way to study under Professor Olvia.

Three years later, Roger passed by Ohara. Said he was retiring. He gave her his journal right before surrendering himself to the World Government.

Olvia had to run some errands, so she left Ruby at an island, doing some field study by herself. When she finally completed her assignment, she went to the nearest village to discover her home was no more, or so said the papers.

Since her apprenticeship was never formalized and she was born in a small island a few hours away from Ohara, no one ever came for her. Ruby went to live with her older sister in a small place called Baterilla, far enough from their home island. There, she carried on with her mentor's research.

After the execution, Baterilla wasn't safe anymore. So, Ruby packed and started her own journey, following the vague and oftentimes incomprehensible descriptions in Roger's journal. It was probably the often random and roundabout routes that protected her for so long, but it eventually came to an end in an unnamed island on the weakest sea.

A marine officer had seen her reading parts of a poneglyph out loud.

One look at her books and the officer… brought her to the neighboring island to tutor a pair of brats?

A few weeks after that, the newly-named Rune understood why. Inexplicably, a child had been born with the knowledge she'd taken years to gain. Moreover, her understanding of the language was more than instinctive, almost… a native speaker.

She had hope again. Maybe uncovering the Void Century wasn't impossible. In a moment, she and little Robin, whom she hadn't contacted in fear they'd be discovered, weren't the only ones left. Only one issue remained: if only they could learn Common as easily…!

Rune sent a small thank you to Olvia's soul. Teaching was the most challenging thing she'd ever done. Brats could be stubborn as hell. Good thing there was a nice little bar to unwind when it got too bad.

In another world, a younger D. got to her first; in this one, she met two generations of the line, then birthed a third.


End file.
